RADJAH SHELDRAKE 



TADORNA RADJAH (Garnot) 



(Plate 16) 



Synonymy 

 Anas radjah Garnot, Voyage "Coquille," Zool., atlas, pi. 49, 1826. 

 Tadorna radjah Eyton, Monograph Anatidse, p. 106, 1838. 



Vernacular Names 

 English: German: 



Radjah Sheldrake Radjah Gans 



White-headed Sheldrake Aborigines of Australia: 



White-necked Sheldrake Comerdo 



White Duck — (Northwest Australia) Mahdo or Mardo 



Burdekin Duck — (Queensland) . T . , 



Aru Islands: 



French: Bursil 



Sarcelle des Malais Bir<mal 



Anda Island: 

 Umukia 



DESCRIPTION 



Adult Male: Head, neck, breast, abdomen and lesser wing-eoverts pure white, mantle black, ver- 

 miculated with narrow chestnut lines. Back, scapulars, rump, upper tail-coverts and tail black. 

 There is a very marked chestnut-colored pectoral band on each side of breast. Bastard wing, pri- 

 mary coverts, and primaries black; a bright- green speculum on the secondaries, which are broadly 

 tipped with white. The speculum is bordered anteriorly by a black line on the lesser coverts, and 

 posteriorly by a black line on the secondaries. A dark chestnut patch on the outer margin of the 

 tertials. 



Iris white; bill fleshy-white; legs and feet white, tinged with flesh -color. 



Wing 260-270 mm.; bill 42-44; tarsus 54-57. 



Adult Female: Similar. 



Immature: Have the upper part of the head and the nape dark reddish, the upper wing-coverts 

 edged with blackish, the black band near the tips of the greater wing-coverts broader, and the green 

 speculum duller (Salvadori). 



Downy Young : Have brown-black upper side, with four large white spots, two on each side, and 

 white under side (Meyer, 1884). 



DISTRIBUTION 



The White-headed Sheldrake is a bird confined to the East Indies and Australia. Like many 



Mol tropical A natidas, it is a non-migratory species, its seasonal movements being only local. 



The northwestern limit of its range seems to be Ternate (Bernstein, Leyden 



Museum) and Halmahera (Bernstein, Leyden Museum) in the Moluccas. It has been recorded also 



